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My girlfriend's brother graduated with his "master's" yesterday from a religious school - Indiana Christian University. He went to this same school for his bachelor's, and the school is unaccredited. Speaking to him, the man is still as dumb as a box of rocks and isn't deserving of any degree, much less a graduate degree.
Do you take the religious schools' degrees with a grain of salt?
The more appropriate question would be, "do you take degrees from unaccredited schools with a grain of salt?" The Catholic universities are accredited, and are worth something. They also provide a good education to people who otherwise would never be able to afford one: immigrants, ethnic minorities, and other folk from an impoverished background, without proselytizing or teaching "religious stuff". Don't paint all religious schools with the same brush. You don't seem so bright, yourself, if you're lumping respected schools together with unaccredited schools.
Unaccredited? Doesn't sound good. A graduate who is still dumb as a box of rocks? Doesn't sound good.
Otherwise, one would assume that any university degree would mean that all subjects were covered, even it was a religious school with emphasis placed on religion.
Are we talking about ALL religious schools, or just the evangelical/fundamental Christian ones? Schools like Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, etc. are top-30, world class institutions that are religious. I don't think there's anyone taking degrees from those schools with a grain of salt. You can't really lump those schools in the same category as the evangelical/fundamental Christian schools that disregard evolution, teach their students that being gay is a sin, etc. I do question the academic legitimacy of schools like that.
The more appropriate question would be, "do you take degrees from unaccredited schools with a grain of salt?" The Catholic universities are accredited, and are worth something. They also provide a good education to people who otherwise would never be able to afford one: immigrants, ethnic minorities, and other folk from an impoverished background, without proselytizing or teaching "religious stuff". Don't paint all religious schools with the same brush. You don't seem so bright, yourself, if you're lumping respected schools together with unaccredited schools.
Exactly. An aspiring student should be more concerned about accreditation than the religious status of the school. The school was more than likely bad because it didn't have to meet accreditation standards. I don't know why religion would be the first thing someone would try to blame. Diploma mills (unaccredited schools that practically give away degrees) are more likely to be secular.
On another note, I know that many, if not most, states require schools to attain some type of accreditation within a certain number of years in order to keep their state license to operate. However, religious schools are usually exempted. Some credible religious schools don't attempt to become accredited out of protest for whatever reason, however, as others have said, there are many religious schools that are accredited and provide a quality education.
My girlfriend's brother graduated with his "master's" yesterday from a religious school - Indiana Christian University. He went to this same school for his bachelor's, and the school is unaccredited. Speaking to him, the man is still as dumb as a box of rocks and isn't deserving of any degree, much less a graduate degree.
Do you take the religious schools' degrees with a grain of salt?
I do some. Even some regionally accredited ones are not up to my personal standards - or that of most secular people.
Colleges with a mainstream religious affiliation can be fine schools - Methodist, Quaker, Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, Episcopalian etc. - there are some fine colleges and universities associated with each of these religions.
Texas Christian University is a well respected college affiliated with the mainstream Disciples of Christ. However, most "colleges" that randomly insert the term "Christian" are less than stellar and are trying to attract a certain crowd of outliers who practice a kind of reverse snobism that is weird and irritating.
I have certain ex-relatives who will never stop bragging about their daughter's BA from Oral Roberts University. Back in the 70s and 80s, this school routinely lost regional accreditation over a variety of issues, including discrimination.
I have never heard of this college. I have heard of Indiana Weslyan University - which is regionally accredited - but is ultra conservative. I think they admit anyone who agrees to their code of conduct. It is not United Methodist as it's name might suggest, and it's affiliated with the ultra conservative Wesleyan Church.
Let me guess, his whole family is celebrating this graduation as though he just got out of Oxford.
My girlfriend's brother graduated with his "master's" yesterday from a religious school - Indiana Christian University. He went to this same school for his bachelor's, and the school is unaccredited. Speaking to him, the man is still as dumb as a box of rocks and isn't deserving of any degree, much less a graduate degree.
Do you take the religious schools' degrees with a grain of salt?
Unaccredited schools, religious or not, are a waste of time and money. I know several small christian schools (accredited) that have turned out smart, well prepared graduates.
They gave a controversial creationist an honorary degree, as they did with huckster Rod Parsley!
In one year you can get a certificate in "Charismatic Studies" (speaking in tongues)
Yes. All unaccredited colleges are a bad move and a waste of time and money. However, there are many more in the ultra right wing conservative Christion sub culture because the recognize them! With that degree, your girlfriend's brother could probably teach at a "Christian School" or college.
Scary and sad sub culture.
06-07-2015, 01:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strawflower
Are we talking about ALL religious schools, or just the evangelical/fundamental Christian ones? Schools like Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, etc. are top-30, world class institutions that are religious. I don't think there's anyone taking degrees from those schools with a grain of salt. You can't really lump those schools in the same category as the evangelical/fundamental Christian schools that disregard evolution, teach their students that being gay is a sin, etc. I do question the academic legitimacy of schools like that.
This.
There are plenty of very good schools with some degree of religious affiliation.
Then there are things Liberty University that no one takes seriously
And then there are the unaccredited fake colleges that exist solely to transfer money from students to money-grubbing "preachers."
Probably the vast majority of liberal arts colleges are affiliated with one religion or another, from the small local schools to the Notre Dame's. Religion does not automatically make a school "bad." Most offer a range of education, and yes, they even teach that the earth is not the center of the universe alongside evolutionary biology. (Why do so many people think that religious people are also deliberately ignorant of science and the world? )
Even among the unaccredited schools, there are some that exist to train ministers. I have no problem with those either because they are clear in what they are doing and why.
The ones I do have a problem with are the ones who pretend to be open, but are really closed to any other thoughts. These schools, and the parents who insist their children must attend there and nowhere else, really are handicapping their graduates. I have known some who attended one of these (BJU) and then attended grad school alongside them at a public U. A box of rocks would have a better understanding than them. Sad really that these were kids who had finished four years of college and were still as inexperienced and uneducated as a 13 year old who hadn't even started high school.
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